Leadership Theory Application

Being a Leader Advancement Scholar has given me the opportunity to follow a protocol that has allowed me to tackle many realms of leadership. One part of my protocol that I would do even if it wasn’t a part of it would be being involved in an RSO, eventually holding leadership positions in 2 of them. The Social Change model applies to this in a sense that when you’re in the organizations, you are focused on the individual,  group and community. Let me elaborate here. Within the individual, as in myself, I try to hold still to my values and beliefs before the group so I am competent and confident with in the group. Next is within the group, where I am now focusing on collaboration and interaction between myself and the organization where I am trying to instill the groups values into them for future leadership roles. For example, I try to implement the skills of helpfulness, caring and  collaboration among my group so eventually we can all foster these characteristics and implement them in our leadership behaviors daily on the job. With in the society, the group is trying to bring about change for the common good. An idea of this would be how certain organizations shape you into well rounded leaders that are career based, or major based, so you are ready to impact the field and others around you for the long run.

Through the 7 C’s of leadership, social change is able to happen. I’ll explain 2 briefly:

1. Common Purpose- This is to work collectively with the group through shared visions and for everyone to participate actively in the purpose and goals of the group. An example of this would take place in SAVV (Student Advocates for Vegetarianism/Veganism) where they all share the common purpose of saving the lives of animals and protecting the environment from to the mass production of meat.
2. Citizenship- This is not simply membership, but actively being engaged in the community where your ultimately  working towards social change. Although this is implied in every single RSO to go out and volunteer, this is another section of our protocol where 30  hours of service with in our community can impact us as leaders. As we gain more self knowledge in this act, social change can increase as others see the problems they face as connected to the problems of other people and choose to engage in it.

Social Change Model is something we should lead by everyday in trying to make yourself and the community better. Through this model you can find satisfaction and enjoyment from making a difference in the world. As emerging leaders on campus, this protocol is allowing us to apply the many realms of leadership in many unique ways where we can all make a difference.

First Year Accomplished!

Wow did that go by fast! I remember coming in on the first day the most socially awkward individual ever. As I look back on the year, I realized that I have grown and developed exponentially, not just within making friendships, but within my own values and beliefs. I am so much more confident and know my self better than ever. I was able to discover what I am capable of and where I’m going in life. I was exposed to people from all realms of life whether that be a different culture or family up bringing. It was amazing to see how we all viewed the world in different ways and how through those differences we still found our way back to the similarities. I have learned that I can truly express myself and all my weirdness and quirks to the world and still be happy with myself at the end of the day! Thats right, I said it! I’m weird and silly and not afraid to come out of my comfort zone. This year has given me so many reasons to smile and to appreciate everything that this year has had to offer. It’s hard to even put into words all the amazing experiences and transformations that have taken place in this year.

My fantastic mentor Taylor Brown and I chillen like villans

SAE Kolor Run after math

Some of my best friends

I came to a final decision of where I am going in life. That is to pursue a degree in Biomedical Sciences to eventually become a Physicians Assistant (PA). I also decided to minor in Leadership, Chemistry and ASL (American Sign Language). Being able to pair all of these up and one day carry a career where all of these can be implemented into my daily life will be the day I look forward to. Being able to pursue a job in the field of medicine has been a passion that has grown with in me even more during this past year. Taking that drive and ambition to be that helping hand in finding the cure for so many harmful diseases I decided to join pre-pa club last semester. This club has given me opportunities to learn more about the PA field than ever before. You’re also around others who share the same passion to better someone else’s life through the work of medicine. Due to my increasing passion for the profession, I am now the head Event Coordinator for the club and can’t wait to pair my leadership and passion together to hopefully allow others love for the field to grow as much as mine did.

Being on campus here at Central has allowed me to appreciate how diverse this campus is. We have one the biggest global campuses here and being able to meet some of these wonderful students from across the globe is truly amazing. I have become so interested in learning about others cultures that I applied to become a desk associate in SHC community next year, which is where the international students are housed. I have also pursued a minor in ASL to understand a culture that I feel is the most wide spread, Deaf Culture. We as hearing people don’t fully understand the daily struggle the the Deaf Community faces and being able to further educate myself on this culture is something that I am looking forward to. Being able to pick up a second language and adapting to communicating in sign language will be truly inspiring and enlightening to experience.

Being surrounded by the most passionate, inspiring, outgoing, crazy people I call my LAS fam, they have allowed me to see the greatness that still exist in others. They have truly impacted me and have aided in my boost of confidence through out the year. Each and every one of them offer something special and I can’t express the lengths they have indirectly impacted me. Although some I may never see as often as others, I am able to walk up to them the next time I see them and be welcomed with open arms and a smile! These are the kind of people you should have in your life. The ones you can talk to so deeply that you realize how messed up this world actually is. The ones you can give your service with and know they understand the lengths to which that services does for the community and what it means to you. I love the members of my cohort who are the greatest people ever, but that doesn’t restrict me to just these amazing humans. There are so many other great humans I have met on this campus and they have allowed me to see the roles they play in others lives. Leadership is instilled in everyone in one shape or form, and being able to see how all my friends put it to use is an array of sunshine I would say. I just makes me want to smile at all the possibilities that the world could benefit from by having these people in it. Thank you to all that have allowed me to grow and dig a little deeper.

In the end there are so many ways in which I have grown and developed into the person I am during this first year of college and although I am going to be in a hefty load of debt, every single penny was worth discovering my self and I can’t wait for what is to come next semester!

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The Wonderful City of Detroit

After we had left the city of Detroit, our cohort had time to reflect on the impact that we made and the impact that happened within our selves during this service trip, but first let me give you the inside scoop of the activities we were able to partake in.

When we arrived in Detroit we showed up to a local charter school in Detroit rather known as Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. This day was dedicated to service where we could allow the Jalen Rose students to interact in the activities we were putting on, as well as potentially recreate these projects later on. I give the kids major credit for coming in to volunteer with 47 college students during the final day of their spring break. Although at their school, service is a requirement these kids voluntarily signed up and willfully wanted to better this community by doing more service. Cards for Veterans was the activity I facilitated, which basically was making cards that stated how grateful we were for the service that vets had put towards our county. I was able to interact with my group and get to know them each individually and the things that they wanted to do later on in life. They have allowed me to open my eyes and become aware of things that some of us might take for granted. One being a bus system. We never had to worry about not having to miss school because we either had a car or a bus to take us there. Well, here they have no bus system and some families might not even have a car so walking is that last resort even if they’re more than a couple miles away. Even for service requirements they have to find transportation to these events. This has allowed me to stop and think about the little things that we are offered everyday that may not be offered to others.

As we left Jalen Rose, we were able to bond over great pizza from Pizzapapolis and then we were off to the DIA (Detroit Institute of the Arts). This was an amazing and beautiful place where you could escape from others around you and dive completely into the culture of art.

I enjoyed the DIA, being a first time goer. Art allows others to express what they feel deep inside themselves and basically communicate indirectly with others. Leadership is a form of art in the sense that each person expresses it differently and paints their own picture of a true leader. Then we went to the DNR Outdoor Adventure Center, where its basically all nature and outdoors activities inside of a building. Cool Right? Bonding with the cohort like no other here where we did heads up, handstand contests, and an animal hunt.

The next day approaches and we head off to Cass Community Social Services. This place has so much history to it, but the main objective of it is to give those with intellectual disabilities job opportunities so they can make a living as well. Day in and day out people think that the state allows people with disabilities to live a comfortable life. Little do they know it’s hardly enough to get by. CASS is trying to change that. The place I went to was the paper shredding services. This is where people bring confidential paper work from doctors offices, lawyers or old checks that they want shredded up. Here they have people who might not be able to read so their information is held confidentially and the workers get paid their dues. Other job opportunities CASS offers are a catering service, shoe making and tire matts. There are probably more services they create for others around the city, but this is the main list. This has taught me to be selfless and make sure I can offer opportunities to others around me. Instead of thinking centrally, I need to start thinking developmentally and how I can better impact the community around me.

In the end this was a weekend of giving back to the community, whether it was indirect or direct service. Being made aware of the issues happening in Detroit and the social stigmas tied along with that, broke boundaries for me. Stereotypes were broken about the wonderful city of Detroit. If everyone was made aware of the issues happening there wouldn’t be any because those who are passionate about making change in this world would dive in and help the under represented areas. We would all say nice things about Detroit! The more we interact with the community, the more likely that we could make an indirect change. Instead of sitting on the couch seeing commercials on Detroit, how about you get off of that couch and start making a difference in the communities we live in.

LAS Class of 2015 making a difference in Detroit. 4/1/16-4/2/16 (Photo courtesy of Dan Gaken)

 

LDR 200 Reflection

We came in to this semester knowing a little bit more about leadership than when we started the school year. The LAS 2015 cohort was ready to hop on the horse. This class was tailored for us to learn how to facilitate and to determine what our most ideal form of leading was. Through this discovery, we all were assigned a workshop to present to the class. These consisted of leadership theories that we had to dissect and facilitate, that characterize the many takes and forms on leadership. My workshop was Culture and Leadership which is a theory that paired these two separate sects together which showed the relation in how being in different cultures can affect your leadership effectiveness. The culture aspect was studied through the GLOBE project, which contained 160 investigators who went out and researched 17000 managers in 950 organizations through 62 societies. This study allowed for cultures to see there differences in leadership through dividing up the countries into 10 country clusters. The purpose was to increase our understanding of cross-cultural interactions and the impact of culture on leadership effectiveness. The first step is to learn about and understand the culture that you are in. If you don’t understand the people that you are working with, how do you expect them to understand you as well. Breaking the barriers and trying to understand all realms of culture whether or not your going to lead an organization, is something everyone should be invested in.

Another requirement of this class was to facilitate an initiative, which is an activity that engages a group in a fun and interactive way, while also teaching them about the many traits that build a leader. My initiative team had integrity which is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles and moral uprightness. To present this we had everyone get in small groups and played a mock game of “never have I ever” where they would snap if they have done this certain activity and then put a finger down. The questions asked were solely based on situations where you would use integrity. An example would be “Never have I ever knowingly let someone cheat off of me for a test.” Then they would get in a big group and clap instead of snap. Our goal was to see if there level of integrity was challenged when they were surrounded by others who may not do those tasks. Being emerging leaders, its our job to hold a level of integrity not just within our selves but with our followers. If we hold our selves accountable and create a trustful and honest environment, then integrity will prove itself strong.

In the end, this class has showed me all sides to leadership and what forms I may need to use in certain situation, where I can better impact and motivate my followers. It has brought me closer to my cohort and has showed me what I am capable as a leader. I was able to work on my public speaking skills and really task my brain on other ways in which i can better my self and others. If you’d like to see my interpretation of leadership, check out my page on Leadership Philosophy.

Political Science/Government

As I went into this semester, I thought PSC105L was going to be a dread and a pain in the butt, for lack of words. In the end, this class wasn’t a total let down. I ended up learning a little bit about the way the government works. We learned about the legislative, judicial, and executive branches and how they all function together with checks and balances on one another.The constitution was also a classic piece of history that we went over as well. We touched on constitutional violations during the civil rights movement and on the Standing Bear vs. General Crook case. This dealt with the Article 1 section 9 right of Habeus Corpus. to not be arrested for not breaking a law. This class has showed me that in order to be a well rounded leader, I should have a knowledge of some government facts to lead multiple audiences. Every person should have government smarts in the sense that they know their constitutional rights. As an American we should know the little facts that make us the country we are today.

You Know What Were Fighting For?

Being a Leader Advancement Scholar, one requirement that is in our protocol is to be a part of a Lead team. I was so ecstatic to find out that I was a part of the Leadership Institute Relay for Life lead team. Having been on my high schools relay team for all 4 years, I was super excited to see what a college team had to offer. I wasn’t let down! We meet periodically throughout the school year planning for the event and fundraisers to put on through the year. Although some plans didn’t fall through, we still ended up being super successful.

As a team we put on an event called Pie an Li, which was where the relay team, along with Li staff were being pied in order to raise funds for our team. We ended up raising more than last years fundraiser which we found as a huge success. As a team we were the second highest fundraising team raising a total of $1,940 and became a rising star team for raising over $1,000.

Personally I set my goal at $300 to raise for the American Cancer Society and I ended up raising $240 which is still great, but not exactly close to my goal. I completed my previous goals of $100 and $200 which was really rewarding to think about. I also took one for the team and was one of the fantastic people to be pied at Pie and Li! And to top everything off I won free pizza at the event due to my fantastic donators for participating in the $48 in 48hrs. challenge.

At the event we each signed up for shift to volunteer during the event. I decided to come for 10 out of the 12 hours offered. Having had close family members survive and pass away from this disease makes this event close to my heart. It starts out with a survivors lap to applaud those who have won the battle and then later on we take a luminaria lap to remember those who weren’t able to beat the battle. In between these key times of relay, there are of course fun and games and many great acts that came in to perform. Among the few things that happened were the Asia Project, ASL (American Sigh Language) Society performance, Trap Door Improv, Dance Team and many more. My FAVORITE had to be going up on stage with my fellow LASer Teddy Wingiert doing a Lip Sync battle to the iconic melodies of High School Musical! The pictures below were special dance moves including the kids favorites these days, the whip!

The Central Michigan University raised a total of $55,600 during the raising period. Since this was the 100th birthday of the American Cancer Society, we hope this will be the last straw to end the fight and finding the cure for cancer.